How can I stop Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 7 from being automatically deployed to my clients?

A.
IE 7 will be deployed as a high-priority update via Automatic Updates for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 shortly after its final release. For companies that want to prevent this automatic deployment, Microsoft will provide the "IE7 Blocker Toolkit," which you can download at http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/1/3/013113f4-700b-4854-a6b7-54083563c146/IE7BlockerToolkit.EXE. The tool stops deployment of IE 7 only via Automatic Updates; users will still be able to manually install IE 7. Remember that organizations that don't use Automatic Updates and instead use technologies such as Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), or a similar technology don't need the blocker toolkit because administrators must authorize updates to be deployed to the client base.

The download contains a script that you can execute via a logon script to block IE 7 installation on the local machine, or you can pass a machine name to remotely block the IE 7 installation, as the following example shows:

C:\>IE70Blocker.cmd remotepc /B

The download also incudes an .adm file that you can import into Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to enable wider blocking of IE 7 according to GPO-targetable containers (e.g., domains or organizational units--OUs).